Kevin Bostic
Despite the overwhelming popularity of Google's free mapping app and Apple's own Maps GPS navigation firm Garmin has continued to embrace the iOS platform. The StreetPilot Onboard and Navigon apps have been met with mixed reception, so I was curious to see if the latest versions have brought any significant improvements.
Garmin's StreetPilot Onboard and Navigon now feature integration with Apple's iCloud, theoretically enabling users to easily access their saved locations from multiple iOS devices. This appears to be a sticking point with some users, however, as a larger number of App Store reviews voice frustration over lost favorites and problems saving new locations.
In addition to closer ties with iCloud, the apps also feature integration with social networking tools Foursquare and Glympse. Foursquare users can configure automatic check-in and access the location-based network's search content without leaving the Garmin apps, streamlining the habitual process.
Glympse is just emerging from startup stage, taking a different tack by focusing on personal notifications. If traffic causes delays on the way to meet friends, for example, the Glympse system will keep everyone informed via text message or a web-based interface.
Integrating new location-based services makes sense for Garmin's iOS strategy, but many of the App Store reviewers would have preferred if the company focused more on making a stable navigation utility before adding the social networking capabilities.
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
14 Comments
It's a tough field for Garmin to plough. I wish them luck as with any iOS developer but I would not want to be trying to compete against free integrated apps from Apple with a $32 version in any field. I suspect they might feel they have a shot after all the iHater's comments about Apple's maps but I suspect that is to be a shorted lived issue.
I don't think anyone hates Apple maps $32 worth.
Do any of the other nav apps allow offline navigation? This is Navigon's huge advantage IMO. I've been using it since before Garmin bought them and still like it. For my daily commute I use Waze for their traffic info plus I get to feel like a contributor to that info, but anytime I'm going far I use Navigon. One of the other nice things about Navigon is that you can pick and choose which state's maps to store on your phone.
Actually, I dislike Apple Maps $49 worth. So I have StreetPilot for iOS. I'd had a NUVI for years, and it was wonderful. It took some trauma to the charging port about the time I got my iPhone 4. Granted Apple Maps isn't full-featured on the 4, but after trying Waze (cute, but somehow thought my office was 4,200 miles from my house) and MotionX Drive (best voice by far, but too-small interface elements for driving) it was a shot at Garmin - as Street Pilot (mostly) uses the same interface as a NUVI. There are some surprising quirks - searching for POIs does not live-update the found list for distance and direction - you have to go back and just re "OK" the search - annoying and dangerous. And some interface elements are smaller than their NUVI counterparts, but not as bad as MotionX. As for the social aspect - couldn't care less. I'm trying to get somewhere not shmooze while driving. I'll likely get traffic added, though with Waze and MotionX it often seemed that they knew when a traffic issue started but not when it was over. More than once I took a detour only to look at the supposed traffic crunch parallel to me - and there was none. The traffic on the local radio was at least as good if not better.
Foursquare has always been a meh to me. But if they could figure out a way to be able to send alerts about bad traffic, accidents etc and then offer to route around them, that could be a useful 'social' trick.